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Apr 2, 2017

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare | MIT

Posted by in category: media & arts

“This site has offered Shakespeare’s plays and poetry to the Internet community since 1993.”

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Apr 2, 2017

Getty Research Institute Online Exhibition The Legacy of Ancient Palmyra

Posted by in category: media & arts

“In this 21st century, war in Syria has irrevocably changed the ancient caravan city of Palmyra, famed as a meeting place of civilizations since its apogee in the mid-2nd to 3rd century CE.”

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Apr 2, 2017

Breakthrough Starshot Project Amps Up: Ball, Brakes To Be Added Into The Interstellar Sail

Posted by in categories: innovation, space

Scientists are proposing new methods of stabilizing the design of the first of its kind tiny and lightweight space probe.

(Photo : SciNews/YouTube screenshot)

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Apr 2, 2017

Artificial Intelligence And Income Inequality

Posted by in categories: finance, robotics/AI

In fact, when speaking with many AI experts across academia and industry, the consensus was unanimous: the development of AI cannot benefit only the few.


Income inequality is a well recognized problem. The gap between the rich and poor has grown over the last few decades, but it became increasingly pronounced after the 2008 financial crisis. While economists debate the extent to which technology plays a role in global inequality, most agree that tech advances have exacerbated the problem.

In an interview with the MIT Tech Review, economist Erik Brynjolfsson said, “My reading of the data is that technology is the main driver of the recent increases in inequality. It’s the biggest factor.”

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Apr 2, 2017

Customized babies are closer than you think

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, economics, genetics, health, policy

The race is on to edit genes and prevent disease. But this technology is ripe for abuse.

Economic inequity already exists in the reproductive industry. IVF, for example, is not covered by insurance in most states (Massachusetts excepted), setting up a situation in which only infertile people with well-padded pockets can afford the treatment. And of course the well-off have easier access to good health care via quality private insurance — or their own bank accounts. Steve Jobs, for example, spent $100,000 in 2011 to sequence his genome and that of his pancreatic tumor — a bill not many could hope to afford.

“The beautiful thing about this [gene-editing] work is it offers an opportunity to intervene around the moment of birth,” says Katy Kozhimannil, an associate professor in the Division of Health Policy at University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health. “That said, as we pay attention to the opportunity of that moment, it’s important to bear in mind the value of liberty and justice for all.”

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Apr 2, 2017

A comprehensive new article on #transhumanism and my work by Prof. Steve Fuller is out in Issues, one of the major magazines of the National Academy of Sciences

Posted by in categories: geopolitics, life extension, transhumanism

It’s now out in print. It’s great to see my past presidential campaign for the Transhumanist Party getting this type of formal recognition. The Transhumanist Bill of Rights, the Transhumanist Wager concept, Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson considering me as a running mate, Immortality Bus, and my #libertarianism are all mentioned. http://www.academia.edu/32185481/Does_this_pro-science_party_deserve_our_votes

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Apr 1, 2017

How the original ‘Ghost in the Shell’ changed sci-fi and the way we think about the future

Posted by in categories: futurism, neuroscience

Was this story the inspiration for the Neural Lace Idea?


The influence of the groundbreaking 1995 anime movie “Ghost in the Shell” can be seen in everything from “The Matrix” to “Ex Machina.”

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Apr 1, 2017

This Scientist Made An AI That Invents Recipes And The Results Are Hilarious

Posted by in categories: food, robotics/AI

Would you like to try some Beef Soup With Swamp Peef and Cheese?

BuzzFeed Staff

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Apr 1, 2017

10 High-Tech Ways Billionaires Plan to Survive Doomsday

Posted by in category: existential risks

Stay safe when society is unraveling above you.

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Apr 1, 2017

Can Futurists Predict the Year of the Singularity?

Posted by in categories: Ray Kurzweil, robotics/AI, singularity

The end of the world as we know it is near. And that’s a good thing, according to many of the futurists who are predicting the imminent arrival of what’s been called the technological singularity.

The technological singularity is the idea that technological progress, particularly in artificial intelligence, will reach a tipping point to where machines are exponentially smarter than humans. It has been a hot topic of late.

Well-known futurist and Google engineer Ray Kurzweil (co-founder and chancellor of Singularity University) reiterated his bold prediction at Austin’s South by Southwest (SXSW) festival this month that machines will match human intelligence by 2029 (and has said previously the Singularity itself will occur by 2045). That’s two years before SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son’s prediction of 2047, made at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) earlier this year.

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